Shah Rukh Khan took center stage at the opening day of the Waves Summit 2025 in Mumbai, turning heads with his insights, charm, and candid reflections. The actor was part of a session titled “The Journey”, where he was joined by Deepika Padukone in conversation with Karan Johar.
When asked what he would say to his younger self today, Shah Rukh responded with trademark wit and self-awareness: “Meri ek theory hai ki when you’re young toh humein lagta hai ki humein sab pata hai… but actually mein pata nahi hoti… hum unconflicted hote hai… but as we grew older… fear, anxiety, thoughtfulness… this actually takes over. So when you are young you experience the adventure called life… without any obstacles, any inhibitions… because itni samajh nahi hoti hai. Strangely, clarity of thought hoti hi nahi hai… because itne thoughts hi nahi hote hai. (I have this theory that when you’re young, you feel like you know everything… but actually, you don’t. You’re unconflicted. As we grow older, fear, anxiety, and thoughtfulness take over. When you’re young, you live the adventure of life without obstacles or inhibitions, because you don’t know enough. Strangely, there’s no clarity of thought because there aren’t too many thoughts yet.)”
Reflecting further, he added: “When I was young, I was brash, a bit overconfident, I think I was a bit reckless… and I would like to tell myself thank you for being like that. Kabhi main apne purane interviews bhi sunta hoon… reckless bhi tha… bohot saara stupid bhi tha… but I’m really happy with all of that… because otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen this path and wouldn’t be where I am right now. I was a little gutsy also… so yeah, thank you to young Shah Rukh Khan for being so cool. (Sometimes I listen to my old interviews, I was reckless, quite stupid but I’m truly happy with all of it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken the path that brought me here. I was gutsy too. So yes, thank you, young Shah Rukh Khan, for being so cool.)”
The conversation then also touched upon the pressures of image-building in today’s era, especially for young actors. Addressing aspiring talents who hope to make it big, Shah Rukh Khan offered an honest critique of this obsession with creating personas: “See, image is an image by definition. Image ka matlab hota hai duplicate photo, that’s never the real you. So you have to assess yourself hard… agar aap mujhe kuch karne ko bolein jo meri nature se vipreet hai… jo mujhe samajh hi nahi aata… aur main woh karoon… I think that is wrong image-building. (By definition, an image is just a duplicate photo, never the real you. If you ask me to do something that’s against my nature or that I don’t even understand, and I still do it, that’s false image-building.)”
He continued, “You have to exude… you have to tell people, ‘This is who I am.’ Kyunki aap unique ho… Deepika unique hai… all of us are unique. Everybody likes to see new things. If you’re able to bring your uniqueness, people will like that. Not an image copied from XYZ. Cut-paste doesn’t work. You have to be honest to yourself. You have to be the unique, real you. (Because you’re unique… Deepika is unique… all of us are. People love originality. If you can bring your true, unique self forward, they’ll connect with that, not with a copied image. Be honest with yourself. Be the real you.)”
Up next for Shah Rukh Khan is the much-anticipated action drama King, which is expected to begin production soon. Directed by Siddharth Anand, the film also stars SRK’s daughter Suhana Khan in a pivotal role.
